ujutsu Kaisen 0 (Japanese: 劇場版 呪術廻戦 0, Hepburn: Gekijōban Jujutsu Kaisen Zero, “Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie”) is a 2021 Japanese animated dark fantasy film.[4] It is based on the 2017 manga Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which is itself a prologue to the manga series Jujutsu Kaisen, both mangas having been written by Gege Akutami. It was directed by Sunghoo Park from a screenplay by Hiroshi Seko, and stars Megumi Ogata, Kana Hanazawa, Mikako Komatsu, Kōki Uchiyama, Tomokazu Seki, Yuichi Nakamura, and Takahiro Sakurai. The film follows Yuta Okkotsu, a young student who becomes a sorcerer and seeks to control the Cursed Spirit of his childhood friend Rika Orimoto in Jujutsu High, alongside other skilled sorcerers in training.
Originally intended as an arc of the animated television series Jujutsu Kaisen, studio MAPPA changed the format of it during discussion. The staff decided to expand the narrative from that of the original manga by adding new scenes focused on Yuta’s mentor Satoru Gojo and the antagonist Suguru Geto. King Gnu performed the two theme songs. Given the large budget for the movie, MAPPA aimed to make more appealing fight sequences than the ones from the animated television series.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was released in Japan on December 24, 2021, by Toho. Upon its release, the film received positive reviews for its accessible storytelling, the animated fight sequences, and soundtrack. However, it was also criticized for its short length, as some characters felt underdeveloped when compared to the lead. It was the highest-grossing film at the Japanese box office in 2021, and took $196.2 million worldwide.